Time

Shadows     Even the wind was somehow hot and thick that June evening. Standing in front of the old bowling alley, my favorite old dirty Misfits t-shirt glued to my back with sweat, the oppressive night air seemed to somehow diminish all thought and reasoning, almost as if these record high temperatures were melting my brain. Finally, after enduring this for hours, I decided that I’d had enough and was going to do something...

The Devil Wins My Tears Once Again   You speak but your eyes tell the truth Deceit and lies spew forth from your mouth Hidden behind the walls of complements Forever speaking but never honestly My pain wells up behind a mask of caring My tears held back for none to see I silently carry the burden of Love Craving only Truth and Honesty from my partner in life I starve for Love’s sweet embrace...

How long can you go through the motions until the heart catches up? How long can you put up a brave face until it cracks? How long can you hold back tears until the dam breaks? How long can you be silent until a scream erupts? How long does it take for a heart to break?

Spring Oh that day That glorious day The birds were all atwitter and the flowers bloomed their best in pinks and purple, yellow and white and the trees blossomed their promise of plenty The children were laughing The people were smiling The wind caressed us tenderly on that day that the sun spread out her arms and embraced us with her warmth.  

A rooster announces the new day and the birds exalt their Maker As I fill my soul with the fragrance of the dawn dormant memories awaken Of tulip fields and tree lined streets Of endless skies and meadowsweet Time not of the essence My youthful years are captured in the fragrant air Forever effervescent

I saw only your eyes Softer, warmer A deep well of love I determined not to cry I smiled The moment to big for words Our hearts touched each other as we embraced Closing the distance of too many years We had come home.   -Els W 11/30/23

The cave is dark And tunnels deep The path uneven Often steep With many promises to keep To live, an act of courage A day, a week A month, a year Time for celebration.   -Els W 3/20/23

I’ve never sat well on a pedestal. My glassware’s always been flawed. I was a chipped vase, tossed out into the waves. Some call it the sea of despair. I don’t know. All oceans have their storms.   Washed up again, I’d been transformed. I am sea-glass, beautifully beaten, battered, reformed! The sea doesn’t discard refuse on the shore. She gives gifts, not garbage. Those broken shells and seaweed are the stuff of life.  ...

This old journal, started in another life. Yellowed pages scratched with old ink. Words written before I had a child, Before I had a wife. When the smell of Humboldt Was a new mystery in my nose.   Forty years separated by one blank page. Between where I jumped off the world And where I landed again. Years filled with love and smiles, Courage, joy, blood And rage.   A single blank sheet sums me...

coffee and chocolate from the shop where our friends earn their spending money on the weekends college and new friends nine months down the road you'll probably leave and i'll probably stay home in the house i've adopted, though it isn't mine and i'll probably miss you like all of the time nothing to forgive, afraid to forget you'll be somewhere between strawberries and cigarettes   you'll start a business, or get a degree i'll...